Replacement neck

C8rockin

C8rockin

New member
I was wondering if you guys would mind helping me out with a couple of questions I have? (I appologize if I've come across as a know it all or something. I've looked back at some of my posts and I think I might have. I've just never been on a forum before and don't know how I come across, but it seems like I kill every thead I post in.)

Anyway,...I've got a Schecter Gryphon Diamond series guitar that I bought cheap to experiment with wiring and setups and such on. Well now it's become a project guitar. I want to strip the finish and everything.

In my research I learned they were made with old inventory from back when they were strickly a custom shop. I assume it's the body they were talking about. It's mahogany with a thick maple cap. It has "rock maple" 25.5" scale neck. I think it could be a Killer guitar, but right now I can't stand to play it. It's neck heavy and I don't like a long scale anyway. It doesn't feel right and the frets seem too far apart.

So,...Are conversion scale necks worth it? I mean,.. do they work well? I'm thinking about putting a short scale mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard. I'd like your opinions on conversion necks and where you'd get one from. I like the warmoth head stock options but are their conversion necks good? I really don't want a strat style headstock, and it seems like thats mostly whats out there. If I got one like that could I reshape the headstock without ruining it?

Any help would be great. I have no experience with after market parts and I'm leery about ordering one blind. Thanks
 
Re: Replacement neck

does the Schecter use a standard Strat neck pocket?

my advice is to take precise measurements of the neck pocket and call up Warmoth to talk with a rep. you can get a 24 3/4" scale neck that is identical to a Gibson with a 59 profile, 12" radius, LP headstock, etc. or you can choose one of a ton of combinations of tonewood/shape/frets.

I should add that even if it has a Strat-size pocket, there's no guarantee that you can just crank down the 4 screws to hold down the neck and call it a day.

plan on taking it to a tech, having the neck aligned properly and bolted down, a custom bone nut cut, and a full setup done. won't be cheap but the whole process will make it feel like a new guitar.
 
Re: Replacement neck

That's just the kind of info I need. Now I know where to start. I'll have to find a tech, I don't know of a good one around here. That's why I've learned how to do my own setups. I have an acoustic that needs a new nut, and so far I can't get one to come out right, and 3 guys I've taken it to say it's fine and they wouldn't want to change it. Which tells me they knew they couldn't make one better. It's plastic and sounds pretty bad.

Anyway,..Thanks bro...
 
Re: Replacement neck

i don't know about the guitar stores around your area, but at the guitar center i go to has a little bank of business cards by the entrance, and there's cards for repairs, lessons, etc.. going to a local music shop/guitar store or calling them up would be the first thing i'd do.
 
Re: Replacement neck

Warmoth guitars has options on headstocks, necks that will fit with different scale lengths, etc,...
 
Re: Replacement neck

C8rockin said:
I was wondering if you guys would mind helping me out with a couple of questions I have? (I appologize if I've come across as a know it all or something. I've looked back at some of my posts and I think I might have. I've just never been on a forum before and don't know how I come across, but it seems like I kill every thead I post in.)

Anyway,...I've got a Schecter Gryphon Diamond series guitar that I bought cheap to experiment with wiring and setups and such on. Well now it's become a project guitar. I want to strip the finish and everything.

In my research I learned they were made with old inventory from back when they were strickly a custom shop. I assume it's the body they were talking about. It's mahogany with a thick maple cap. It has "rock maple" 25.5" scale neck. I think it could be a Killer guitar, but right now I can't stand to play it. It's neck heavy and I don't like a long scale anyway. It doesn't feel right and the frets seem too far apart.

So,...Are conversion scale necks worth it? I mean,.. do they work well? I'm thinking about putting a short scale mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard. I'd like your opinions on conversion necks and where you'd get one from. I like the warmoth head stock options but are their conversion necks good? I really don't want a strat style headstock, and it seems like thats mostly whats out there. If I got one like that could I reshape the headstock without ruining it?

Any help would be great. I have no experience with after market parts and I'm leery about ordering one blind. Thanks
Click to expand...

Check out Carvin. They sell great necks and you can shape the headstock the way you prefer. They have two way truss rods too, which helped me out big time just recently.
 
Re: Replacement neck

Carvin's an option I didn't know about. thanks. I'm gonna go have a look. Whats the advantage of a 2 way truss rod? Does reshaping a headstock have any disadvantages?...or,..what's the significance of the shape, or the size of the headstock?

Yeah,...I'm really diving in head first with this, but I really want to learn, so I'm just go all out. I'm doing my research. I really want a great playing and versitile guitar and I'm starting with the neck. I'm also planning on P-rails with all the switching options and that will be a challange for me as well....I'll need to make sure I have enough holes for switching before I refinish the body so I need to research that, too.

Thanks for the input, and feel free to keep it coming. :cool:
 
Re: Replacement neck

if your going for a fullout wiring job for the p-rails, hermetico just drew up a diagram that has everything but the kitchen sink. send him a pm, i'm sure he'd hook you up. as for carvin necks, they seem pretty cool. you can get whatever overlay, headstock shape, ss frets, for not that bad of a price. what is bad(imo) is that you can't choose what kind of neck profile your getting, it's just whatever carvin is putting out at the moment.
 
Re: Replacement neck

i thought all carvin necks are long scale - be sure to double check ... you are also going to have to be sure to worry about the pocket size and dont forget about pocket depth ...

reading your post, i think the best advice is sell the guitar outright and get one you like ... there are risks about the bridge placement vis a vis intonation that you will have to account for ... and if you cant do this work yourself, it is gonna be potentially crazy pricey to get a good luthier to deal with (this is beyond what a tech should be trusted with)

and important to remember - tone qualities of species of wood in general and tone qualities of specific piece of wood of those species are not directly related .. you can get a crap piece of mahogany and maple even though they are often good tone woods ... listen with your ears, not your eyes

good luck
t4d
 
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Re: Replacement neck

super rad ska said:
if your going for a fullout wiring job for the p-rails, hermetico just drew up a diagram that has everything but the kitchen sink. send him a pm, i'm sure he'd hook you up.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Sounds like what I'll need but, it'll be a while before I'm ready. (I think,... I really want to try those P-rails)
 
Re: Replacement neck

tone4days said:
i thought all carvin necks are long scale - be sure to double check ... you are also going to have to be sure to worry about the pocket size and dont forget about pocket depth ...

reading your post, i think the best advice is sell the guitar outright and get one you like ... there are risks about the bridge placement vis a vis intonation that you will have to account for ... and if you cant do this work yourself, it is gonna be potentially crazy pricey to get a good luthier to deal with (this is beyond what a tech should be trusted with)

and important to remember - tone qualities of species of wood in general and tone qualities of specific piece of wood of those species are not directly related .. you can get a crap piece of mahogany and maple even though they are often good tone woods ... listen with your ears, not your eyes

good luck
t4d
Click to expand...


Well, I didn't know it could be that involved. If that is indeed the case I will probably go with an entire warmoth build or something, but then there's the cost of the (same) body as well. The project it'self is really kind of a therapy type thing. I need something creative to accupy my mind right now. (I'm trying to shake some monkeys off my back)

The reason I want to use this body is because I think the guitar sounds pretty good now, it's just no fun to play. I really dislike the neck and thought a new one would be the way to go. The guitar's not worth much to sell so I thought I could make it better for me to put a quality neck on it, and one thing led to another,.... but the experience will be invaluable either way.
 
Re: Replacement neck

i'd say go warmoth then, you can choose any fret size and material, any board wood, any neck wood, any profile, any bolt pattern, almost any headstock shape, etc. your guitar does have a fender neck pocket, right?
 
Re: Replacement neck

C8rockin said:
Well, I didn't know it could be that involved. If that is indeed the case I will probably go with an entire warmoth build or something, but then there's the cost of the (same) body as well. The project it'self is really kind of a therapy type thing. I need something creative to accupy my mind right now. (I'm trying to shake some monkeys off my back)

The reason I want to use this body is because I think the guitar sounds pretty good now, it's just no fun to play. I really dislike the neck and thought a new one would be the way to go. The guitar's not worth much to sell so I thought I could make it better for me to put a quality neck on it, and one thing led to another,.... but the experience will be invaluable either way.
Click to expand...

cool - good luck
report back with pics as you go along
should be a fun way to keep occupied with plenty to learn along the way
t4d
 
Re: Replacement neck

super rad ska said:
i'd say go warmoth then, you can choose any fret size and material, any board wood, any neck wood, any profile, any bolt pattern, almost any headstock shape, etc. your guitar does have a fender neck pocket, right?
Click to expand...

I don't know what a fender neck pocket measures and I haven't been able to find it yet. I don't want to assume it is. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't measured mine yet. I will tonight. But where do I take the measurements. Is it length, width, and height of the pocket? (I assume) Boy,.. I guess I don't know a **** thing do I? :jester: I will before this is over though.
 
Re: Replacement neck

C8rockin said:
I don't know what a fender neck pocket measures and I haven't been able to find it yet. I don't want to assume it is. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't measured mine yet. I will tonight. But where do I take the measurements. Is it length, width, and height of the pocket? (I assume) Boy,.. I guess I don't know a **** thing do I? :jester: I will before this is over though.
Click to expand...

warmoth's got the specs for a standard fender pocket, both strat and tele, on their website. not sure about your schecter though.
 
Re: Replacement neck

CaughtLikeFire said:
does the Schecter use a standard Strat neck pocket?

my advice is to take precise measurements of the neck pocket and call up Warmoth to talk with a rep. you can get a 24 3/4" scale neck that is identical to a Gibson with a 59 profile, 12" radius, LP headstock, etc. or you can choose one of a ton of combinations of tonewood/shape/frets.
Click to expand...

This seems like the next step. Then at least I'll know what warmoth can do for me.

I was concerned that a conversion neck may not work as well as what the body was designed for and that's really why I didn't start out by calling them. I didn't know if there might be some bias toward there own product. I guess they work well. No one has said anything negative about them. Is that correct?
 
Re: Replacement neck

super rad ska said:
warmoth's got the specs for a standard fender pocket, both strat and tele, on their website. not sure about your schecter though.
Click to expand...

That's cool,... thanks. That will at least tell me how to measure it. Then I can give them a call. It's starting to really look like warmoth is going to be the one.

I looked on the Carvin web site and all I saw was hard maple long scale necks on there. I really think I want to go with mahogany though, and it looks like Warmoth has that, and their variax head stock looks good to me also. I also see that I need to familiarize myself with the different neck contours, too.
 
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